


Sanctuary

by threethirteenAM



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Angst, Fluff and Angst, Found Family, Gen, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, drk spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23995063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/threethirteenAM/pseuds/threethirteenAM
Summary: Family is what you make of it.A collection of one shots and shorts focusing on scenes with the DRK fam at various points in time.
Relationships: Fray Myste/Sidurgu Orl
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	1. nurture

**Author's Note:**

> This is a scene I've been wanting to write for a while, so I finally threw it together while taking a break from a bigger project. I figured I'd start this collection off with something on the sweeter side. Enjoy!

“Quit wriggling like an eel for one moment and let me get a proper look at that wound.”

“Maybe if you’d give me a moment to get settled before you start prodding at me, I would.” Sidurgu swatted away Fray’s over-eager hands from his blood-soaked undershirt as he sat himself onto a rickety wooden stool in the cramped room. The way the shorter man was backlit by the dancing light of the hearth just behind him served to cast an intensity to his expression as the shadows stretched past him, but Sid would not be cowed. “It looks worse than it is, anyway.”

“You say that every time,” Fray said, crossing his arms and acquiescing to simply watch as Sid struggled to pull the loose garment up and over his head without wincing—rather unsuccessfully he gathered, from the way his companion shook his head as he unceremoniously dropped the shirt on the ground at his feet. He leaned back against the table just behind him, doing his damnedest to not wince this time as he rested his left arm upon the the sturdy wooden surface to allow Fray to get a better look.

A handful of dark bruises mottled his chest and arms, joining his scales in adding a splash of dark color to his pale skin. But those were of no consequence compared to the patch of red just below his ribs. Fray knelt at his side, looking over his bruised and scarred flesh with quiet intensity. 

“Getting sloppy, are we?” he asked, reaching out to gauge the extent of the damage. It was a long, blessedly shallow cut, but it bled like hell. Grazed by a lucky swing. Sid gave a derisive snort as he watched him get to work.

“Bastard got it back ten-fold, I assure you.”

As he relaxed into Fray’s familiar touch, his eyes idly wandered their surroundings until he caught sight of Rielle lingering at the periphery of the room. She was a curious thing, still largely silent around them despite it being nearly a moon already since they’d spirited her away from that godsforsaken dungeon. He supposed he of all people didn’t have much room to judge her in that respect. Still, it was something of a relief to see her come out of her shell at least a little bit around the two of them. The apprehension that had hung over her when Sid had first returned this evening was now largely replaced with an expression of hesitant curiosity. 

The sudden absence of the warmth of Fray’s hands stole his attention back, and he turned to find that Fray had followed his gaze to the girl. Consideration creased his brow for a moment before he stood and beckoned to her with a quick wave of his hand. “Rielle. Join us for a moment.”

The girl seemed startled at the sudden invitation, blinking in surprise before glancing about for a moment as if contemplating a retreat. Yet she seemed to think better of it, instead offering a slow nod of acceptance and making her way into the room proper with light, hesitant steps. 

Fray seemed satisfied by this, the barest hint of a smirk teasing at the corners of his mouth as he moved to the other end of the squat, old dining table that took up most of the room. There he dug into the well-worn sack that sat upon it, pulling out a bundle of clean cloth and and a half-empty bottle of strong spirits, and placed them on the table alongside the short, curved wand that was the focus of his curative magicks. 

Rielle came to a halt a few short steps from where he sat, eyes alight with uncertainty as she looked from Fray to Sid and finally to the bloody mess of the wound on his side. 

“Don’t worry, Sid’s right for once—not nearly as bad as it looks.” Fray winked at the girl and knelt at his side once more, grinning impishly up at him as he began the quick work of cleaning the wound. Sid rolled his eyes, biting back a response as the sudden sting of the alcohol made him wince. “Tell me, Rielle—what do you know of conjury?”

She blinked at the suddenness of the question, only now tearing her gaze away from the wound to stare at him. “I, um…”

“Fray, what are you doing?” There was an exasperated tinge to the question, and Sidurgu frowned at the other man as he finished up his work. 

“Hush.” Fray stood and set the now crimson-spotted cloth aside on the table and wiped the blood from his fingers with another old rag. Then taking up his wand, he turned to the girl again. “Well?”

“I… don’t really know much. Conjurers use the ambient aether to weave their spells, don’t they? Drawing their power from specific elements?”

“Exactly right. Water aether, in the case of a spell such as this.” He paused, tapping his thumb against the wand for a moment. “Would you care to learn?”

To Sidurgu’s surprise, there was no hesitation in the curt nod she responded with—at least not at first. The brief flash of determination he’d caught in her eyes gave way as her brows furrowed in uncertainty.

“I’ve never really done any spell craft before, though…” Her gaze dropped to the ground as she spoke, perhaps embarrassed to admit her lack of experience in such a moment.

“I believe you’ll find it to be much easier than you’d think. Come, lend me your hand.” He beckoned her closer, words firm yet encouraging.

Sidurgu watched in silence as she did as she was bid, stopping beside him and offering her hand after a moment of hesitation, obviously uncertain of what it was he wanted her to do next. Fray grabbed her hand, gently pulling it to rest upon his wand just above his own fingers.

“I want you to close your eyes. Focus on the feeling of the aether as it flows from around us and through the wand, the way it coalesces into the spell.”

“Alright,” she said, studying his face for a silent moment before she considered the arcane tool in her hand and let her eyes drift shut.

Sidurgu locked eyes with Fray in the moments following, tilting his head to the side in an unspoken question. Fray offered no other response than smiling that ever-confident smile of his. He had to wonder if this was truly the right time for this, yet… he had never seen the girl appear more determined than she did in that moment. Perhaps he knew what he was doing after all.

“Are you ready?” he asked the girl at his side. She nodded once again, and this time the confidence did not falter. Fray offered a nod in turn to Sidurgu, and began working his spell.

The familiar pale glow of the curative magicks lit up the room, adding a sharp contrast to the flickering shadows cast about by the fire warming the room. To Sid, it offered another feeling of warmth as the aether brushed against him, accompanying the odd, yet relieving sensation of his flesh knitting itself back together. 

As the spell faded, so to did its light, allowing the room to gently return to the grasp of the warm hues of firelight. He shifted on his seat, leaning back to get a better look at his side. His fingers brushed against the flushed skin tentatively at first, and finding it to be whole once again, he began to rub at it a little more vigorously. Quick healing was a blessing, to be sure, but damn if newly-healed flesh didn’t itch like hell.

“I think I felt it.” Rielle’s quiet words immediately seized his attention, and he glanced up to the two of them. Fray seemed quite satisfied to hear it.

“Good,” he said, letting go of the wand so that it now rested solely in Rielle’s pale fingers. “I want you to try to mimic it now—seize the aether around you and encourage it to flow through the wand just like I did.”

She stared at him wide-eyed. “But- I’ve never—”

Fray rested his hand on her shoulder, nodding at her. “There is always a first step to be taken.”

Her pale gaze returned to the wand, and she grasped it in both hands now as she considered it. Sidurgu could practically see her wrestling with her own confidence before she took a deep breath and finally closed her eyes to focus once more.

It felt as though the room grew even more silent as she concentrated, only the sound of the crackling logs on the hearth present as her odd pair of caretakers watched her first brush with conjury. There was no immediate response, the moments drawing on longer and longer as the girl worked. Yet she did not falter, holding steady in her pose of concentration.

And then suddenly, a faint light encapsulated the wand, bit by bit growing in intensity until it very nearly matched the full spell Fray had conjured moments before. The girl opened her eyes, the sight of her own success so startling that she lost hold of the manifested aether and the spell dissipated as quickly as it had been summoned. She didn’t let that deter her however, turning to towards Fray with the first real smile Sid had ever seen brightening her face. 

“Well, well,” Fray said with a glance toward Sid, that phantom smirk from earlier now alight on his features in full, “I’d say she’s a natural.”


	2. Vault

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rielle takes a moment to consider life with Sid in the wake of Fray's death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was something quick and short I wrote during last year's FFXIVwrite challenge for the prompt 'Vault.' I wanted to toss it in here since the challenge is coming up again and I may try to write some more quick DRK family drabbles during it.

It hadn’t been the same since Fray left. 

Silence often loomed between them, a stark specter in place of their trusted companion. Not that the two of them had ever been much of the talkative sort, but the silences seemed so much heavier now, stretching out for an eternity without Fray there to bridge the gap. 

Sometimes Rielle didn’t mind it. Sometimes the grief made words too much to bear. And the silent grieving was preferable to the days when Sid was incensed with a fiery rage that would make the Fury herself jealous of its intensity. Those were the days that worried her, not out of fear that he would raise a hand to her, but because there lingered the possibility that it would lead him to something reckless. In his line of work, that was a recipe for disaster.

But if she ever tried to pry a little, to get him to lay bare what was on his mind, she was always met with gruff rebuttals. Yet as much as it frustrated her, she couldn’t bring herself to push the issue too far. Because what if he turned the tables on her? Decided to dig deeper into the real reason behind the Temple Knights’ pursuit of her? She couldn’t bear to think about it, much less say it aloud.

They were an odd pair, dancing around the fact that they each had secrets locked tight in their hearts.

Yet despite this, they depended on one another. Sid wouldn’t say it, but she could tell he was glad for the companionship. Some days that seemed less true than others. Like he almost kept her around as an excuse—a living, breathing justification for his want of bloodshed. But she could see it in small moments, subtle gestures. The way the tension seemed to leave his shoulders, just slightly, when she sat alongside him by the fire on particularly cold nights. Or the way he’d taken note of her fondness for sweet cider and would, when the opportunity presented itself, wordlessly go out of his way to treat her to some. 

And without him she would be lost, at the mercy of Knights who were willing to see a young girl with no way of defending herself as an undesirable threat.

They didn’t know what to make of one another much of the time, but all they had was each other now. It had to be enough.

Rielle contemplated this as she sat beside the crackling hearth in their drafty inn room, watching as Sid strapped his weapon to his back, preparing himself for another outing. One without her, judging from the fact that he wasn’t hassling her to get ready as well.

“Where are you going?” she asked, causing him to stop short. 

Sid hesitated in the doorway, turning to look at her for one long, drawn out moment. Rielle let herself believe this might be one of the rare times he confided in her, trusted her with some information, anything at all about what he was doing in order to lend some relief to her worries. But he simply reached one hand up to tap the hilt of his greatsword before turning to leave, silent as always when it was most important. She should have known better.

“I won’t be long. Keep the door locked until I return.”

And then he’s gone, leaving her with nothing but fear that he might meet the same fate as Fray, and she’d be left all alone again.


End file.
